NEW DELHI, APR 17,
Acting on advice of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the Delhi government on Tuesday cancelled the appointment of nine advisers to ministers in the Aam Aadmi Party Cabinet, saying the creation of posts and appointments were done illegally.
In an order on Tuesday, the General Administration Department said it had received a clarification from the MHA on April 10 that the nine posts were not among the list of posts approved for the Chief Minister and Ministers of Delhi.
“Further, no prior approval of the Central Government has been taken for creation of said posts on which these persons have been appointed on co-terminus basis, which is a requirement as per MHA’s OM dated 3.9.1997,” the GAD order said.
In addition, the MHA’s 2015 notification that made services a reserved subject meant that the Central government had the right to create posts etc.
“Therefore, creation of posts by Delhi Cabinet for accommodating these appointees is void ab-initio, being done by an agency not competent under the law to do so. Since creation of these posts and subsequent appointments on these posts are not valid, all previous orders regarding creation of these posts and appointments made against them are hereby cancelled,” the order read.
The appointments cancelled included Atishi Marlena, advisor to Deputy Chief Minister; Arunoday Prakash, media advisor to Deputy CM; Amar Deep Tiwari, media advisor to Minister (Law); Rajat Tiwari, aide-de-camp Minister (Power, PWD, Health, Industries and Home); and Raghav Chaddha, advisor to Minister (Finance).